2005 Caravan

removing windshield wipers on 2005 Caravan. one of the nuts hold the wiper arm on the splined (cone-shape) shaft is rusted badly and deteriorated. A wrench or socket won't do it. Any suggestions on how to remove the nut? I could cut with a Dremel or maybe drill small holes in the nut until it falls apart? any other ideas? thanks! Stevo

7 Answers

As the wiper arm where your problem is, is just aluminum cast then you
could just cut a V in that and break it away then you could get a vise grip
on the nut, seem strange it would rust, I thought those were stainless
steel nuts, unless someone lost one and just put on a regular nut.
Anyway that's my 2 cents worth.

See photo. I cut off the aluminum edge, but still can't get a grip on the nut, even with a vise grips. I'm thinking of just cutting away at the nut with a hacksaw until it weakens, add heat gently, and hopefully breaks loose. Any other ideas? I'm worried about damaging the wiper spline.......

I would go ahead and cut off the wiper arm as close to the nut without
damaging the splines. then get a small metal cut off wheel for your
dremel and carefully make cuts toward the shaft, the more the better,
doing this will weaken the arm part that is left hopefully allowing you
to break it out from under the nut, taking the stress off the nut and
allowing a better grip to get it out. After you get the notches cut and
the pieces removed soak the nut with a little diesel overnight, I have
seen diesel work where all of the other stuff failed.

thanks for the suggestion. I got a #426 Dremel cutting wheel and tried one more thing before trying your method. I cut one side of the nut off with a hacksaw, very carefully, close to the splined bolt. I think this took some stress off the nut. Then I took the Dremel wheel and cut a notch in the nut on the other side. (wear eye protection!) I was then able to use a small standard screwdriver (it was already broke on the end, so no loss) and place it in the notch, then tapping lightly/firmly with a hammer on the screwdriver counter clockwise. After about 20 taps the nut finally turned. It had several treatments of PB blaster over about a week. Now to find a new nut for it, that may not be cheap. THANKS AGAIN!! Stev0

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